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Metrophage

Metrophage Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Richard Kadrey (Author), Peter Ganim (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)

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Welcome to Los Angeles - where anger, hunger and disease run rampant. Jonny is a black-market dealer in drugs that heal the body and cool the mind. All he cares about is his own survival. Until a strange new plague turns L.A. into a city of death, and Jonny is forced to put everything on the line to find the cure... if it can be found on Earth.

©1988 Richard Kadrey (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Listening Length

11 hours and 2 minutes
Author

Richard Kadrey
Narrator

Peter Ganim
Audible release date

June 26, 2013
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B00DNGUSDW
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Customer reviews

4 out of 5

243 global ratings

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Excellent & engaging writing

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2023

Verified Purchase

I've read reviews which discount this author's work as being derivative however I must say I don't agree. His work is engaging and solid and recommend trying his work. Though some of the themes are common enough the craft is good.

Tripping Drummer

Metrophage Review

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is a reissue of Richard Kadrey's first novel published in 1988 by ACE Science Fiction from his current publisher, Harper Voyager. It’s true this cyberpunk drama of a pre-dystopian L.A. & its annihilation by aliens foreshadowing lacks the biting wit and over-the-top action of Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series.

The near-future L.A. is edging towards the apocalypse for sure; brooding, cutthroat, and somewhat unpredictable people all standing on the razor’s edge of death. The former L.A. zoo is full of the homeless, thieves, and drug dealers. The former occupants are “out and about”, roaming the former Hollywood hills where protagonist Johnny will commune with one very special tiger!

Included is an introduction Q&A were fellow author "Cory Doctorow interviews Richard Kadrey about Metrophage, first novels, altered states, and more", shedding light on Kadrey's state of mind while writing Metrophage, Kamikaze L'Amour and Butcher Bird.

If you’re Mr. Kadrey’s number one fan or just a die-hard one looking to own everything he’s ever written, buy this reissue instead of the overpriced original. If you’re someone uninitiated to the author, you’ll probably enjoy and appreciate Metrophage more after reading a few of Kadrey’s Sandman Slim books. I know I have and I feel my twelve bucks and change was money well spent.

As an aside, although not specified in Amazon's synopsis of Metrophage or in the product details, I was pleasantly surprised to find my copy was signed by the author. This was probably just a case of dumb luck working in my favor for once but you know what?

YIPPEE-KAY-YAY-[REVIEW EDITED]-!!!!!!!

One person found this helpful

im a huge Kadrey fan, just not of this particular book.

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

No spoilers, just a quick review.

Kadrey has a way of creating characters and describing scenes that draws you in and keeps you reading. Metrophage is no exception. In easing it, you can easily see the style that would become his signature. The biting wit, the gritty realism, the action are all there.

For me though- and perhaps this is because I read Sandman Slim first, after he'd honed his style- the story felt... clunky. Disjointed. The story starts one way and very abruptly changes course at a point in the novel (just before the halfway mark) and in a manner that leaves you confused.

Additionally, and this was my larger problem, the characters are *too* smart. Drug dealers don't understand the finer points of virology. And I'm not generalizing here. It's not *one* smart street dealer, it's *all* of them. The dealers, the thugs, the miscellaneous background characters all appear to have had a very thorough education in pathology, virology, biology and at least a few courses in medicine. It's a jarring contrast.

But for all that, I appreciate it for what it is, an early work of one of my favorite authors today. It's rough, jarring, and still thoroughly enjoyable.

2 people found this helpful

Victoria Antigravity

Excellent early cyber-punk

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2022

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This is an excellent book, I was very pleased to find a copy in hardcover. The book is in very good condition and arrived promptly.

it doesn't necessarily make a fantastic book. If you've read all the Sandman Slim ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

I couldn't read the entire book and I really tried because I'm a HUGE Richard Kadrey fan! Richard Kadrey has said that this was one of the first books that he ever had published, if not THE first, and he admits that he was trying to copy the style of some of the authors that he admired at the time. Although imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it doesn't necessarily make a fantastic book.

If you've read all the Sandman Slim novels and Butcher Bird, you might be disappointed. If this is your first introduction to Kadrey, it's a pretty good book. Heavy on the sci/fi so don't go into it thinking fantasy.

Either way, I'd say that you should buy it to support the author, at the very least. And if you like it, even better!

8 people found this helpful

A good read about slow decay

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2017

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When you read this, it becomes clear at the end that events tend to go all "Luge to Hell" with the relationships between the protagonist and the supporting cast. Still I like it because of the slow decay that we can relate for our world. A good read and I recommend it for the atmosphere.

2 people found this helpful

Kadrey Gains Momentum

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is not a great book, but I enjoyed it. Creative and mostly original ideas, something you don't find a lot of in modern fiction. For Sandman Slim fans, this is a completely different style, setting, plot, etc., but worth a read.

2 people found this helpful

I would follow Jonny to the ends of the Earth.

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2015

Verified Purchase

Kadrey has crafted a novel that will lead you down the rabbit hole of corruption and addiction. How do we cope when our existence is filled with murder, plague, addiction, war, & lies?

Jonny wants what many of us want, I think. And it turns out that when he gets it. He doesn't realize the cost. We never do.

I became a fan of Kadrey after the Sandman Slim novels burned right through me and visa versa. There is something incredibly sexy about how Kadrey tells a story. I don't know what else to say, except you won't be disappointed when it all comes to an end. You will be enlightened.

Top reviews from other countries

Fraser Simons

Not a bad cyberpunk classic, not great either, though.

Reviewed in Canada on March 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

“SOCIETY IS A CARNIVOROUS FLOWER”

Los Angeles is home to Jonny, a pusher with a past linking him to the Committee, a militant faction with more resources than the police and sentiments similar to white nationalism. Written in ‘88, this first wave cyberpunk novel has most of the trappings. There is no middle class anymore, just the super-rich and the dirt poor. Jonny is the now fairly typical cyberpunk anti-hero. Unlike most anti-heroes though, he' also emotionally tethered to his partner, Sumi. The impetus of his adventure is wanting to avenge the death of his friend Raquiem killed by another player in this underworld, Easy Money.

“Sumi terrified him. Sometimes, in his more callous moments, he considered her a slip up, his one remaining abandonment to emotional ties. Occasionally, when he felt strong, he would admit to himself that he loved her.”

L.A functions only as a hub for criminal activity that supports only those people in that life. Everything else has ceased to function. It’s dirty, gritty, overrun with gangs vying for this small piece of a pie. Whether you are or you aren’t, people seem to be waiting for the end, using one vice or another to self medicate. As with most everyone in this novel, the past catches up with Jonny on his murderous hunt for Easy. Colonel Zamora picks him up and gives him 48 hours to deliver his boss, a drug lord to him, or else die a very unpleasant death.

“Like some fragile species of hothouse orchid, the city existed only as long as it had the politicos’ backing. Without that, the Committee would be on them like rabid dogs. For the moment, though, the balance was there. Merchandise flowed out and cash flowed in, blood and breath of the city.”

The rest of the plot is Johnny ping-ponging his way around the city as the powder keg situation blows. Navigating different factions and trying to get to back to Sumi while it all goes to hell. There are noir aspects injected into the story and takes a lot of inspiration from other first wave cyberpunk books, especially William Gibson. Johnny gets his ass thoroughly kicked. The world makes it clear that taking an interest and getting involved is a hazard most people can’t survive. But the most interesting parts are often the world building and small details nestled therein that really make the story shine.

It focuses on the seductive and duplicitous ways the people draw one another in for self-serving connections only to be consumed by their own ambitions and greed, all while the world burns down. Everything comes at a cost. The drug lord who’s lived a long life is a lease. The drug is ultimately going to kill him and he knows it. The extension could be seen as more of a curse than a blessing. Everything bad is good for you and vice versa. When you finally lose it all, true apathy takes you and your story is then truly over. Bleak sentiment from a world gone to hell. Discover the beauty before you are devoured; no one gets out alive.

“We’re the trained dogs of the spectacle…it’s devoured our lives, our art, our dignity. But existence is not determined by the whim of politicians.”

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